1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system for displaying web documents and a method therefor, and more particularly, to a system for displaying web documents so that users can grasp the entire configuration of a web page and a method therefor.
2. Prior Art
The World-Wide Web (WWW), which will be referred to as the “Web” hereinafter, is the most popular information provider on the Internet. The Web allows information to be provided and exchanged in the forms of graphics and sound as well as text.
As use of the Web grows, a function accessible to the Web (hereinafter referred to as “Web accessible function”) is adopted in not only portable equipment, such as a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a mobile phone and PDAs/PCAs (Personal Digital/Communication Assistants), it also is adopted in desktop computers, as well as home appliances having a display function such as a digital TV or an internet TV.
One of the most significant features of the Web resides in providing information in the form of “hypertext” or “hypermedia”. The term “hypertext” indicates text information that includes “links” to other on-line information therein. The term “hypermedia” indicates information that includes “links” to information in several forms, such as images, sounds, and even motion images, as well as simple characters. To receive desired information, a user clicks one of the “links” that is embedded in the text of a document displayed on the screen. This will enable the user to receive a new document in a desired web site specified by a URL (Universal Resource Locator).
The web documents which can be accessed via the Web are written into Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), which provides a basic document format and allows links to other servers or files to be specified. A “tag” is used as a command, which is inserted in the middle of a text in order to display the text on a screen or to link to other web documents.
A basic pattern of the tag is <TAG>˜</TAG>, in which <TAG> means the start of a HTML command, a main text influenced by the tag is arranged in the “˜” portion, and </TAG> means the end of the HTML command. The basic configurations of HTML tags are <HTML>˜</HTML>, <HEAD>˜</HEAD>, and <BODY>˜</BODY>. Here, <HTML> declares that the document is made up in the form of HTML, <HEAD> means that information defining the written time and size of the document is loaded, and <BODY> means the main text of the document.
The HTML document requested by a web browser is provided to the web browser by a web server. The web browser analyzes a tag inserted in the provided document, and displays the document in an appropriate manner based on the analyzed result.
Meanwhile, in the case that the displayed web document is a HTML document of frame structure which is displayed as several divided screens, each called a “frame”, via a web browser, a <frame> or <frameset> tag is used to indicate that a frame structure is included therein. The web browser grasps the frame structure of the HTML document via the frame tag.
FIG. 1a shows a conventional web document displayed on a screen according to a prior art display method. Here, if a web page 190 is beyond the size of the screen, a scroll bar 191 is provided to allow users to scroll the remaining portions.
FIG. 1b shows web documents of frame structure displayed on a screen according to a conventional display method. Four frame-structured documents 100, 110, 120 and 130 are displayed on a screen. Also, if the dimension of the document is beyond the frame size, respective scroll bars 101, 111, 121 and 131 are provided for the documents. A user manipulates each scroll bar 101, 111, 121 or 131 so as to see the remaining portions which are beyond the screen.
FIG. 1c shows HTML documents of frame structure displayed on a screen according to a conventional display method. Here, frames 140, 150, 160 and 170 are arranged vertically, and a scroll bar 180 is provided to permit a user to scroll the content or frame which has not been displayed on the screen.
According to the display method shown in FIG. 1a, all of the remaining portions that are not currently displayed cannot be seen at a time. The user can see the entire configuration of the web page only by scrolling the whole web page with a scroll bar.
According to the frame-structured web document display method shown in FIG. 1b, all frames are displayed on a single screen. Thus, if the size of a display screen is so small as in a web video phone and a mobile phone adopting a web accessing function, it is not so easy to see the entire content of the document on the screen. Also, the configuration of the screen is complicated.
According to the method shown in FIG. 1c, the user has a difficulty in grasping the entire structure of the document. As a result, the user cannot select a desired frame quickly. Also, a shift between frames is slow.